


the warmth of winter

by thishasbeencary



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Quality Time, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thishasbeencary/pseuds/thishasbeencary
Summary: The best days for Viktor are the days he can just spend with Makkachin. Of course he loves skating, and he'd never trade skating for the world, but sometimes, he just wants to go outside and play in the snow with his poodle (and, eventually, his husband).





	the warmth of winter

**Author's Note:**

> you know i was sort of hoping it would be done snowing by the time i posted this but. here i am, mid-march, and it's flurrying outside.
> 
> i wrote this for heartbeats, which was a charity zine!! thank you so much if you donated, the amount of money raised is amazing and i'm so glad to see y'all being amazing members of the community and fandom <333
> 
> the zine looked into love languages, so i decided to look into quality time - give viktor a little to spend loving and playing with his pup.
> 
> (plus the image of long haired viktor playing in the snow with makkachin was too much for me to avoid writing;;; hi i'm cary and i'm weak for viktor with long hair what's up)

It was unfortunately not an acceptable option to never go to practice again and still be a world-class figure skater. At least, that was what Yakov said, and Viktor knew that Yakov was right, but it was still annoying. Practice was  _ hard _ , and he just wanted to go home and play with Makkachin, but it was late by the time that he got home, and he was always tired. He just wanted to take a  _ break _ .

He didn’t get many days off as a living legend in training.

_ Especially  _ not during the competitive season. And asking Yakov for a day off so he could just spend time with his dog? Viktor knew better, no matter how desperate he was for free time. He just… had to keep practicing.

Which meant when Viktor got a long weekend off of practice, the first thing that he did was go to sleep as soon as he got home. He woke up early in the morning with Makkachin curled up in his bed with him, snoring softly, and Viktor smiled, wrapping his arms around her and staying there for a little bit longer.

But then Makkachin started to squirm because she wanted to eat and go outside for their morning walk. Viktor sighed, pulling himself out of bed and wrapping his long hair into a messy bun, letting it hang atop his head as he walked into the kitchen. He set Makkachin’s bowl on the ground before eating a quick breakfast himself. 

Or, at least,  _ trying _ to eat a quick breakfast. But there was a hungry poodle at his feet, who thought her food was much less interesting than it was when Viktor first put it out. Of course, because now  _ Viktor _ had  _ human food _ . He looked around as if someone was going to see him before breaking a small piece off, offering it to his dog, who happily barked and ate it out of his fingers, giving them a grateful lick after he had. He shoved her off toward her own bowl with a laugh, holding his food above her so he could finish in peace.

After he finished, he dashed into his room so he could get dressed and comb his hair into something more acceptable than the messy bun. Makkachin barked as she finished eating her  _ own _ food and Viktor walked out to find her standing ready by the door and laughed.

“Sit,” Viktor commanded, and Makkachin immediately fell into the position. Viktor laughed, petting her. He walked over to grab her purple boots and leaned down. “Give me your paw,” he said, and Makkachin obeyed. He’d trained her so well. He leaned in to kiss her, ruffling her fur before he forced the boots on so her paws would be nice and warm in the cold weather. 

Makkachin may be the best trained dog in the world, but that didn’t mean that she would just  _ let him _ put her boots on. Oh no, putting her boots on required Viktor holding her close to himself while he forced one foot in, his giant poodle squirming in his arms. Makkachin would very happily get out on with the walk, without all of this. It’s not like she knew that Viktor was just trying to keep her feet warm.

He wrapped his body around her from behind, holding her in place as he shoved the rest of her feet in, managing not to fall to his face when he released her, which was more of an accomplishment than he usually got through. He let her go, laughing as she shook out her fur and barked, immediately ready to walk. Because the boots were an unnecessary evil, but the walk? Oh, Makkachin  _ loved _ walks.

“I know! Let me get your leash, then we can go. We’re almost ready,” Viktor promised, leaning down to ruffle her ears. He pulled on his own hat and gloves and coat before pulling down Makkachin’s leash, clipping it to her collar. As he left the apartment, he patted down his pockets to make sure that he had his keys.

When they walked outside, Viktor froze for a few seconds to stare that the thick coating of snow on the ground. He knew they were in the middle of winter, so there was always a chance of snow, but there was  _ so much _ . “Makkachin, stay.” Viktor shut the door tightly, to keep Makkachin trapped inside. He kept his eyes on her for the first few steps before he rushed back to the apartment so he could grab her a sweater to wear, just in case.

She had plenty of fur, but he wanted his dog to be the warmest and happiest, and he knew that Makkachin had no problem with wearing clothes (in fact, she liked it). He put the sweater onto her before finally standing. “Let’s go.” He’d barely finished the words before Makkachin was pulling him outside. Makkachin barked excitedly, barreling forward into the snow, and Viktor laughed, rushing after her. “You want to play?” he asked as she licked and barked at the snow excitedly.

There were lots of families at the park when they walked by and Viktor frowned, not really wanting to go there with Makkachin just to play. He loved taking her to the park, but not when it was so crowded. Too many people who might know who he was and take away from the time that they got to spend together. He instead walked her back toward his apartment building and took her around the back to their courtyard.

It wasn’t as big as a park, but that was fine, because that meant that it wasn’t full of people. It meant that there was plenty of room for just Viktor and Makkachin. He unclipped her leash when they got to the back, and she circled the area a few times before bounding back to him, knocking him backwards into the snow.

Viktor laughed, wrapping his arms around his dog and giving her lots of kisses before shoving her off, kneeling down in the snow to wrestle with her. Makkachin barked excitedly. They didn’t get to play like this often, so Viktor was perfectly happy to roll around in the freezing snow with his dog. He hugged her tightly and laughed, playing for a while before letting her go to just wander the snow, and plopping back into the snow himself, laying there for a moment before moving his arms and legs to make a snow angel.

Makkachin had walked back up to him and barked again as she watched him, plopping in the snow by his side and rolling her body around in an imitation of what he was doing. Viktor sat up, laughing even as his hat fell off of his head and his hair fell down, exposing his ears to the cold weather. He watched as Makkachin rolled in the snow and laughed. “Good girl! That’s the best snow angel I’ve ever seen!” he cooed, and Makkachin kept barking, clearly loving the praise and attention.

Viktor laughed at her, letting her finish rolling around before he stood up from his own snow angel, petting her fur again. “We’re starting to get cold, but a little longer, okay?” He kissed her head, tugging his hat back on, not bothering to force his hair back into it. It was wet already anyway, so he’d just blow dry it when they got inside. He watched Makkachin prance around in the snow for a few moments, standing there to catch his breath.

And then he shouted Makkachin’s favorite phrase for when they had fun in the snow together. “Snowball fight!”

And what this really implied was that Viktor rolled up snowballs and threw them while Makkachin chased after them, but she  _ loved  _ it. After a long while of snowball chasing, Makkachin came back to him panting and he patted her head. “Good girl. Let’s go back inside, yeah? We can get those cold clothes off and go get warm.”

He walked her inside and took care of her first, taking off all of her wet clothes and throwing them in a pile for the dryer before grabbing a towel and warming it up, forcing her to walk to the couch so he could dry her off. He pulled her into his lap, taking each of her legs to slowly work the snow out of her fur, making sure to get all of the big chunks before patting her down as much as he could, throwing the wet towel to the side. He wrapped her up in a warm dry one after he’d finished drying her off, giving her plenty of kisses before he stood up, tugging his hat and gloves off on the way to his room.

He changed his clothes quickly, pulling on warm flannel pants and a too-big sweatshirt before walking back out to his couch. Makkachin was sitting where he left her, looking very happy underneath the warm blanket. He laughed, stopping in the kitchen to grab her a treat, offering it to her before he climbed onto the couch. He tugged a blanket over the two of them and pulled her into his lap so they could watch a movie until he had to fix their dinner. He used her body to make himself warm, and she was perfectly happy to cuddle against him when he supplied her with lots of pets and scratches.

It was days like these that Viktor learned to cherish most of all. He loved skating so much, but it got hard, and sometimes he just needed to play with his dog and take a break. This was true for all of the years that he was on top, especially true near the end, until he met Yuuri.

Yuuri, the most beautiful and hardworking man that Viktor had ever had the pleasure to meet, and they had gotten  _ married _ . Viktor was still coaching him as Yuuri won medal after medal, slowly but surely bringing his status to one that rivaled and threatened to surpass his coach’s record.

And Viktor  _ loved  _ it. He loved the thrill of coaching, but it was still so hard. So hard to spend every day doing the same thing and pushing himself through the exhaustion when he sometimes just wanted to go home and lie on the couch with Makkachin.

He didn’t want to force Yuuri through the same exhaustion. Day after day of practice really wore on him, and sometimes he just… needed a day off. A day to relax and regain yourself and remind you that you do love skating, it’s just hard sometimes.

When Viktor looked at the radar and saw that it was meant to snow a lot the next day, he knew what they had to do. He walked up behind Yuuri where he was laying on the couch, a video game on the tv, incredibly focused on whatever he was playing. Viktor wrapped his arms around Yuuri from behind, sliding in to let him finish his level before Yuuri paused the game, turning around to kiss him.

“What do you say we take an off day tomorrow?” Viktor murmured against Yuuri’s lips, resting his head on his shoulder. “It’s supposed to snow quite a bit, so it might be a nice day to stay inside, or at least rest. We can take Makkachin to the park and let her run around in the snow?”

“You want to take a day off?” Yuuri frowned at the suggestion, turning to look at Viktor with wide eyes and Viktor raised his eyebrows. Yuuri shrugged, setting his controller onto their coffee table and wrapping his arms around Viktor in return. “I mean, I guess so. You just don’t think we need to focus on skating? We’re getting close to my next event, I don’t want to hurt my chances if –”

“Yuuri,” Viktor interrupted, kissing him again and again until he was able to make Yuuri giggle, looking up to meet Viktor’s eyes. “One day won’t hurt us. If you want to skate, we’ll go to practice. I just thought you might like a break. You’ve been training so hard, and it would be nice to just… spend some time together? And not worry about the competition?”

Yuuri looked thoughtful for a few moments and Viktor sighed, just keeping his arms around him. He loved that Yuuri was such a hard worker, but it really did exhaust Yuuri sometimes. He needed to be able to take a small break. And Viktor  _ knew _ that they should be focusing on practice, especially so close to a competition, but Yuuri was starting to get stressed, and a day out with Makkachin sounded like exactly what  _ all _ of them needed.

“I guess that wouldn’t be so bad?” Yuuri finally spoke up and Viktor grinned, kissing him deeply. Yuuri kissed him back, pressing him down into the couch as they lost themselves in kisses for a few moments. Viktor pulled away after not too long, a hand cupping Yuuri’s face sweetly.

“I’m going to go read in bed. Finish your game, then come in?” Viktor asked, lingering with his hand on Yuuri’s face before pulling himself off of the couch, using his fingers to comb his hair back into an acceptable style.

Yuuri smiled at him and nodded. “Give me an hour or two, then I’ll be in. Feel free to sleep before I come in,” Yuuri said, reaching out to pull him into one last kiss before picking up his controller again.

Viktor watched him for a couple seconds before whistling for Makkachin to follow him into the bedroom, climbing into bed and grabbing his book, reading it until he started to feel tired. As he set it aside, he heard the soft noises of Yuuri’s game from the living room and smiled, rolling onto his side so he was facing where Yuuri would lie when he was finished. He fell asleep before Yuuri came in, but woke up with the man curled up in his arms, so that was just fine.

He glanced out the window once he’d woken up and smiled at the sight of snow on the ground. Good. Makkachin would love going to the park today. It had been a while since they had a free day to just roll around in the snow. Viktor climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Yuuri, and walked into their kitchen, setting the kettle onto the stove so he could make Yuuri some tea. He leaned against one of the counters, just watching the clock above the oven.

A day off would be nice. He and Yuuri spent plenty of time together, since they were married and Viktor was his coach, but they rarely got a completely responsibility free day. They rarely were able to just focus on Makkachin and each other. It was a good change of pace from the nonstop lives that they lived.

As the kettle began to scream, he heard the door from their bedroom open again, and he smiled, pulling down Yuuri’s favorite mug along with his own and pouring them both some tea, opening his arms for Yuuri to walk right into them. Yuuri immediately wrapped his arms around Viktor’s waist, yawning softly and resting his head against Viktor’s chest.

“Good morning,  _ zolotse _ . I’m making tea.” He kissed the top of Yuuri’s head and Yuuri tightened his arms a little bit, a trace of a smile on his face.

“Thank you, Vitya. Are we still just going to the park today?” he asked, letting go so he could kneel onto the ground and pet Makkachin.

“As long as you want to. It’s snowed quite a bit, so it’s going to be a good day to take Makkachin out. We’ll need to make sure that we dress warm.” Viktor pulled out the sugar and jam, putting each into their mugs before handing Yuuri’s to him, kissing him softly as he did.

“Sounds good,” Yuuri agreed, taking his mug and walking out into the living room, turning on the tv and flipping channels until he found something they could watch in the background of their tea. Viktor came and sat by him, resting against his side as they sipped tea in relative silence, other than the soft noises of Makkachin eating her breakfast and the tv in the background.

It was calm and sweet, and really exactly what they needed from the day.

Yuuri leaned against him as he finished his tea, pulling his legs onto the couch with them and waiting for Viktor to finish. Once he had, Viktor took both of their mugs to wash and set back into the cabinets before walking to Yuuri, wrapping his arms around his waist again to kiss along his neck. “You ready to take Makkachin to the park?” He grinned, saying it loud enough that Makkachin would hear.

Makkachin perked up and barked, rushing over to them. Yuuri laughed, turning his head to kiss Viktor before kneeling down, whispering to Makkachin and ruffling her ears. “Let’s go get dressed.” He walked back into the bedroom, and Viktor quickly followed, making quick work of sliding on warm clothes for the day, grabbing both of their hats and scarves in the process.

When they walked back out, Viktor grabbed Makkachin’s leash while Yuuri called her to the door, kneeling on the ground so he could help her into her bright pink snow boots and sweater. Viktor grabbed his phone, kneeling down next to them with a wide grin before pulling Yuuri into his side, taking a selfie with the two most important people in his life. Yuuri laughed, leaning in to kiss him, and Makkachin decided that she needed in on that action, tackling Viktor and Yuuri to the ground as she covered their faces with kisses.

Yuuri eventually shoved her off, going to grab their coats while Viktor typed out a quick comment and posted their selfie to Instagram, following after Yuuri. They pulled their coats on, and Viktor helped Yuuri wrap his scarf around his neck, leaning in for multiple kisses along the way.

If they were going to have a nice day off as a family, Viktor was going to demand as many kisses as he could possibly get.

Either way, Yuuri seemed to have no problem with that.

Viktor twined their hands together, handing Makkachin’s leash to Yuuri and opening the door. He locked it behind them before following the two out into the snow, grinning at Makkachin’s immediate investigation of the cold, white substance.

“You’d think by now she’d be used to it,” Yuuri laughed, but walked slowly so Makkachin could sniff and lick at all of the snow that she wanted to.

“She doesn’t get to savor it often. We’re usually rushing through morning walks, and the snow is gross by the time I’m able to actually take her out. Early practice does that,” Viktor answered, frowning. “She needs a break just as much as you do.”

“I know. I just… I don’t want to hurt my chances. I just… I want to keep impressing you. And the  _ world.  _ We’ve only got a couple years left.” Yuuri kept his eyes firmly ahead of them, so he couldn’t see Viktor’s resulting frown.

“And in those couple of years, you’re going to catch up to and surpass me, Yuuri, with or without a free day. Come on, you know it’s nice to be able to breathe and just walk Makkachin. We can watch a movie later, or just lay in bed and read. We can do  _ anything _ , because we don’t need to worry today, Yuuri.” Viktor leaned in closer so his arm was around Yuuri’s waist instead of just holding hands. “I used to hate breaks, too. I wanted to keep going, keep winning. But there’s more than that, Yuuri. We’re  _ happy _ , and we deserve a day to just be happy, not world champions.”

Because after so many years of victories, this was a shocking new happiness. This was the kind of thing that would never end.

Yuuri looked at him with wide, happy eyes, and leaned in for a soft kiss, and that was the end of their conversation. Viktor smiled, keeping him close for the rest of their silent walk to the park, just watching Makkachin as she led the way.

When they got there, there were people all over the place, but Viktor didn’t care, because Makkachin would be beyond entertained with the two of them. He unclipped her leash, and she immediately rushed around them, taking in all of the snow before wrestling Viktor to the ground.

Yuuri laughed, pulling out his phone to take pictures of Viktor and Makkachin playing in the snow, but it only lasted so long before Viktor was tugging him down with them, rolling through the cold snow until they were both wet and shivering. Neither of them cared, continuing to throw snow for Makkachin to chase, or wrestling her, or trying to get her to do other tricks.

And it was a crazy kind of happiness that filled Viktor the entire time. The kind of sweet domestic bliss that didn’t need anything else. All he needed was this precious time with him, his husband, and their dog, rolling in the snow. And it was  _ everything _ .

Viktor reached out to take Yuuri’s hand, tugging him in close for a soft kiss. They both laughed as their cold lips met, and Viktor wrapped his arms around him. Makkachin was happily entertaining herself, barking and rolling around in the snow, so they had a few moments to focus only on each other. Viktor rested their foreheads together, smiling softly. He closed his eyes, hearing only the sounds of a soft huff of laughter from Yuuri for whatever Makkachin was doing.

His heart swelled at the happiness in this tiny moment, and he leaned in closer, kissing him again. “I love you,” he whispered, lifting Yuuri’s scarf to press cold lips against the warmth of Yuuri’s neck until Yuuri laughed again. “I love you so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> my blog is [yoyoplisetsky](http://yoyoplisetsky.tumblr.com). come talk to me! or send me prompts! or just silently watch me.
> 
> kudos/comments/bookmarks are always super appreciated <33


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